Writer's Fallout Shelter

The fire will come back.

Don't force it. You need time to heal. How long has it been since your mom died? For me, it was about three years. (Not three years of writer's block, mind you - but three years of training myself NOT to pick up the phone when I needed a chat with my mom; three years to stop crying at the drop of a hat; three years to get over bouncing between sadness and anger and remember her as she was; three years to stop thinking about her every five minutes; three years to stop saying "My God, she was only nineteen years older than me..." and dwelling morbidly on my own mortality...)

Seriously, though - don't force it. Forcing it right now is like trying to look straight on at a star in the night sky, and only being able to see it out of the corner of your eye. Make a place for yourself to write. Have all the tools handy and keep them in good condition. But go do something else for a while and don't mourn the "loss" of the "fire" while you're mourning your mother. Take some photos, go for a drive, walk in the park, do something new or different. The words and the fire will be there as soon as you're feeling up to thinking about other things - to thinking frivolous thoughts, maybe. If you feel an urge to pick up the pen, do it - just don't FORCE it. Journaling is also a good way to express your feelings and put them into perspective. Face your feelings head on and write about your mom - good, bad, superwoman, or flawed human being - whatever comes out. Don't even attempt to direct your writing into "a poem," "a short story," or "a novel" right now - if something comes up and insists on your committing it to paper, nifty. Go with it. Figure out what it is LATER.